With commencement coming up in May, many seniors at Pacific University are working to finish and present their senior capstone projects.
Senior capstones are a way for seniors to express their interests in the professions they plan to pursue after graduation. They are a buildup of knowledge gained from undergraduate experience.
But with COVID-19 roaming worldwide, limitations and safety protocols have been put in place to try and mask or reduce the amount of COVID-19 cases on campus. This leads one to question how the seniors are doing. Has COVID-19 caused any issues, and how are things different because of it?
Senior biology major Anthony Manzon, explains that his senior capstone revolves around finding local areas in Forest Grove that have high metabolic diversity in its soil to see whether or not it can help create antibiotic producing bacteria. So far, Manzon hasn’t had any issues due to COVID.
“I do know that I could not actually go do the project in person due to COVID-19,” Manzon said. So “Half of our class went in person and the other half of us did the quantitative measurements outside of class. I felt like our class was able to work cohesively despite the COVID-19 protocols we had to go through. It was a fun experience and I was glad to be a part of this group.”
Senior and business major Naom Bass has a different route in his senior capstone, as the project revolves around a simulation of a business proposal involving the use of drones.
“It’s going well. I have been making slow and steady progress especially with the extra time COVID-19 has forced upon me,” Bass explained. “Since my capstone is a group project, teamwork is crucial to completion and I am happy to say that my group is a very good one.”
Based off of each response, it seems that even though COVID-19 is still a big issue, it hasn’t caused too many issues with senior capstone projects. And the teamwork aspect between each group plays a big role in holding each other accountable and making sure that the project is getting done in a timely manner, without really meeting to do capstone projects in person. — Todd Takeuchi
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